Suchergebnisse

Hans Schippers looks at the position of the Arab minority in Israel. They account for about 20% of Israel's population. In many ways however, they are treated as second class citizens. The resulting tensions have recently led to three publications on the future of the community. Two of them contain a plea for an end to Israel as a Jewish State. Instead they propose a federal state like Switzerland or Belgium or a binational solution including Gaza and the West Bank. These publications have drawn criticism from most Arab politicians in Israel, who called the proposals unrealistic and showing the divisions in the community. The Palestinian leadership underlined their support for a two-state solution. Progressive Jewish commentators rejected the idea of a federal or binational state, but supported the plea for an end to discrimination and participation of the Israeli Arabs in the peace process. A policy along these lines is probably the best way for both groups to reduce tensions.

Dit jaar is het honderd jaar geleden dat de Italiaanse publicist Filipo Tomasso Marinetti met een manifest in Le Figaro de futuristische beweging in gang zette. Een historisch overzicht van een opvallende stroming, zowel kunstzinnig als politiek.

Hans Schippers assesses the position of the Islamic AK Party led by Prime Minister Erdogan in the light of the relationship between religion and the state in Turkey. Although the AK Party won the general elections in 2002, Erdogan has the Damocletian sword of a military coup hanging above his head ever since. The military consider themselves to be the guardians of Kemal Atatürk's legacy of Turkey as a secular state. In the past decades they intervened four times in politics, the most recent one the 1998 'post modern' coup to oust the Islamic Prime Minister Erbakan, whose approach to Iran, critical opinions on the EU and NATO and favourisation of religious education had gone too far in the eyes of the military. Erdogan cleverly avoided the mistakes of his predecessor. He declared the AKP to be a conservative, pro-EU and pro-NATO party that would seek adherence to the mostly christian-democratic European Peoples Party. His government would be liberal and respect people with different opinions on religion. Erdogan did well in regional elections of 2004. However, he met with growing criticism in the following two years. The organisational structure of the AKP is undemocratic and the number of women active in the party is far too limited, his critics remarked. The party is accused of conducting a campaign of 'creeping islamisation' of Turkish society. The military closely monitor every decision of the government near two-thirds majority in parliament and he could They have the support of the secular president have a party member elected. This would increase Sezer who has amended or rejected a large number the chances of military intervention. Erdogan will of Erdogans proposals. A crucial moment for the probably opt for a compromise candidate. However, AKP-government will be the election by parliament until the arliamentary elections of November, the of a new president, coming May. Erdogan has a political.

Hans Schippers (Midden-Oosten-publicist) evalueert het beleid van de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad, die sinds 2000 aan de macht. is. Van de verwachte politieke en economische hervormingen is zo goed als niets terechtgekomen. Ook op het terrein van de buitenlandse politiek is er geen sprake van nieuw beleid. Het artikel analyseert de denkbeelden van Bashar Assad en zijn politiek ten aanzien van Libanon, Irak en de Verenigde Staten. Ook is er aandacht voor de speculaties over een regime change in Syrië en de mogelijke opvolgers van Assad jr.

Hans Schippers surveys the position of Hezbollah in Lebanese politics and its relations with Iran and Syria. Hezbollah is an organisation with two faces. Together with Amal it represents the Shia in Lebanon. It participates in elections and the government. However, in the Southern part of the country Hezbollah constitutes a state within a state, with a militia and a social and medical network of its own. Most of the costs of this structure are paid for by Iran. The Shia leadership of Iran also played a vital role in the establishment of the organisation in 1982. Syria acted as the protector of Hezbollah in its agitation against Israel. With the departure of Syrian troops following the Cedar Revolution in the spring of 2005 most non-Shia Lebanese wanted to see the Hezbollah militia, seen as a pro-Syrian force, dissolved. However, this was refused by leader Nasrallah. The militia protected Lebanon against Israeli aggression, he declared. It is unclear what motivated Hezbollah to kidnap the Israeli soldiers. This action seemed to be co-ordinated with Iran and Syria to divert attention from the Iranian troubles with the United Nations about Iran's uranium enrichment programme. However, also solidarity with Hamas and the personality of Nasrallah may have played a role. The War of Summer 2006 made it clear once more that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict maybe exploited by forces not directly involved, like Iran. The strong presence of European soldiers in the new peace force presents an opportunity for the EU to take the initiative for a restart of the peace process in the region. A new Madrid type conference may offer away out of the deadlock.

Hans Schippers and Dick Leurdijk look at the possibilities of forming an international military force for the West Bank in the final phase of the Annapolis peace initiative. The main task of this mission would be to maintain security and prevent a coup by the fundamentalist Hamas movement after an Israeli withdrawal. In November 2007, General James Jones, former commander of the NATO forces in Europe, was appointed security adviser for the region. Part of his task is to investigate whether such a mission, as a supplement to the US trained Palestinian National Security brigades, would be a viable option. The West Bank force would be modelled after UNIFIL-II, which was established after the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer of 2006. Unlike other international missions in the Middle East, which have a classical peacekeeping task with lightly armed personnel, UNIFIL-II has a robust peacekeeping mandate giving the military conditional authority for the use of force. Contributions for the stabilisation mission might come from Jordan, especially the Jordan led and Palestinian manned Badr Brigade, as well as from Egypt and several NATO countries. The idea of a West Bank force has led to sharp debates in Israel. Critics have pointed out that the international mission might hamper Israeli security operations. Palestinian president Abbas and king Abdullah of Jordan have expressed cautious support for the initiative. A positive reaction came from the Dutch government, which has made a solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict a key issue in its foreign policy. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, declared in January that after an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement had been signed, he would do his utmost to ensure a Dutch contribution to such an international force, led, e.g., by NATO.